deceived, they will not be moved. A chief secret in the success of Mrs. Hemans is, that she has impressed her readers with a conviction,-if it can be called such, which has been so much the result of sympathy rather than reasoning,-a conviction of her sincerity. Her earnestness, her clearness, her self-evident truth, but, above all, that indefinable countenance of genuine enthusiasm,religious, divine enthusiasm,-have given her access to the heart. No such qualities could she have shown, or had, but upon the foundation of a Christian, conscientious, laborious belief. In regard to the circumstance that it cannot be determined, doctrinally, from her poems, as we have incidentally mentioned, it amounts to saying simply, that while her heart, and her poetry,—and the one because the other, for her poetry is but her heart in print,— are deeply imbued with a true religious spirit, she has treated no subjects which required a development of articles of doctrinal belief, or an allusion to them, in express terms. Her walk has been over common ground, the ground of the affections, the little circular world of which woman's heart is the centre; and when, venturing beyond these modest limits of her "Daily Paths," her thoughts, "all wild and winged," soared upward till the "world in the open air" lay far beneath, and so

"The abyss of time o'erswept,

As birds the ocean-foam,”

what sought they there, those restless pilgrims of the soul, from their far flight o'er land and sea? Fair gleams allured them down to that

"bright battle-clime,

Where laurel-boughs make dim the Grecian streams,
And reeds are whispering of heroic themes

By temples of old times;"

and then o'er forests old and dim they paused,

"Where o'er the leaves dread magic seems to brood,
And sometimes on the haunted solitude

Rises the pilgrim's hymn;"

and ancient halls, in northern skies,

"Where banners thrilled of yore, where harp-strings rang,
But grass waves now o'er those who fought and sang,"

gave refuge to the wandering swarm.

soared again.

"Go seek," she said,

"Go seek the martyr's grave,

And then they

Midst the old mountains, and the deserts vast;

Or through the ruined cities of the past,
Follow the wise and brave!

Go visit cell cell and shrine,

Where woman hath endured! through wrong, through scorn,
Uncheered by fame, yet silently upborne

By promptings more divine;"

And farther yet,—

Yea,―

"Go shoot the gulf of death!

Track the pure spirit where no charm can bind,
Where the heart's boundless love its rest may find,
Where the storm sends no breath!"

"Higher and yet more high!

Shake off the cumbering chains which earth would lay
On your victorious wings;-mount,-mount! Your way
Is through eternity!"

This was her way. And it was that of the highest order of poetry, as we esteem it, faithfully discharging its best office, and its own.*

ARTICLE III.

THE TRIAL OF JESUS.

The Trial of Jesus before Caiaphas and Pilate. Being a Refutation of Mr. SALVADOR'S Chapter, entitled, "The Trial and Condemnation of Jesus." By M. DUPIN, Advocate and Doctor of Laws. Translated from the French, by a Member of the American Bar. 18mo. pp. 88. Boston. Little & Brown. 1839.

PERSECUTION, whether for righteousness' or for opinion's sake, has always proved in the end to be unwise. The impolicy of it has often been pointed out, and is now beginning to be pretty generally understood and acknowledged.

* We refer our readers to Vol. II, p. 356, to another article relating to Mrs. Hemans. ED. VOL. V.-NO. XVII.

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The light from all past history is so strong upon this point, that it cannot well be resisted. From the days of the Pharaohs, who persecuted and oppressed the subject Hebrews, to the present time, it has invariably been found, that the more a people or a party has been afflicted, the more it has multiplied and grown.

The very act of persecution gives the cause notoriety; since, from the nature of the case, it must generally proceed from high sources. The persecutor, if he would succeed, must, at the very outset, secure, at least, the approbation, if not the coöperation, of the powers that be; this is indispensable to the success of his enterprise. When, therefore, as is frequently the case, the higher authorities do not of themselves originate and carry forward the persecution in person, it must of necessity be done under their sanction, a circumstance which cannot fail to bring into notice the cause assailed. Hence inquiries as to its nature arise among the people, and being more favorably disposed towards it from the very peril in which it is placed (such is the nature of the human mind), thousands espouse it, who otherwise might never have heard of it.

At the same time, a new and unusual zeal is imparted to its friends. The unmanly attempt to force their free souls into submission on points where they know they have a right to entertain their own views unmolested, awakens all the fiery zeal of their nature; and they determine, at all hazards, to maintain and propagate their sentiments to the last, that, dying, they may have the delightful consciousness of having borne a martyr's testimony to the truth, and be cheered with the hope of having inspired others with a love for their cause, who shall survive and stand forth as its successful advocates. Besides, there is a God in the heavens, who is neither a disinterested nor an idle spectator in such scenes. From his throne, high and lifted up, he stoops to succor those who, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, are contending manfully for truth and virtue. To select a single case, to which our minds here naturally revert, how signally was all this illustrated, when, through hatred and envy, the Jews persecuted, even unto death, the immaculate Son of God! For a while the cause of the suffering seemed well nigh extinct and the persecutor triumphed in his imagined success. The little band of

disciples, disheartened and overwhelmed with grief, appear to have surrendered themselves to despair. But on the third day the triumph was reversed. Soon Jerusalem was filled with the new doctrine, and Rome and almost the whole world espoused the cause of the persecuted.

Such were the effects of persecution in this case, and they have been similar in a thousand other instances which might be mentioned. But further illustration of the impolicy of persecution, from its immediate consequences, seems unnecessary. Its remoter consequences, however, as affecting the character of the persecutor, are not so generally perceived. The spirit of history is a spirit of retributive justice. The partialities, which sway the judgments of men for a time, finally pass away, and the sentiment of justice, which is deeply seated in the human heart, gradually gains the ascendency, and, at last, speaks out with a voice that fills the whole earth. There are two circumstances connected with the development of this judicial feeling of our nature, which give it a fearful authority.

The first of these is, that it increases in power as men advance in knowledge and virtue. As men increase in knowledge, they become better acquainted with the facts relating to distinguished individuals, and as they advance in virtue, they judge of character more justly. In an age of ignorance and corruption, the greatest enormities may be committed without being much known or censured. But such protection cannot be long enjoyed; in the progress of the human mind in knowledge and virtue, these mists are soon cleared away, and the actions of men begin to appear in their true light,-the injurer and the injured are both brought before an impartial tribunal, and receive a just verdict.

The history of the past fully proves that this process is constantly going on. As men become more virtuous, their sense of justice grows stronger, and they feel more deeply interested in seeing every one have his just deserts. The office of the judge becomes more prominent; there are more who regard themselves as set for the defence of truth and virtue. When, therefore, they behold, in the history of the past, the gross injustice which has been done to so many men of worth, and the false honors which have been so often awarded to the vilest of the vile, their spirit

burns within them to set these characters before the world in their true light. Accordingly, every year, and almost every month, is making some new development of this kind, the judgments of former times are constantly undergoing revision, and not unfrequently a reversion, as the true characters of men become better understood.

From such a process persecutors have nothing to hope, but much to fear. It is sure to bring their name into reproach. And as this process will continue to go on as long as the world shall stand, approximating nearer and nearer to truth, and meting out to every man his just reward of honor or contempt, who can envy the persecutor or the tyrant his name? Could such men as Caiaphas, Nero and Domitian have foreseen this result, they surely would not have exposed themselves to so bitter an execration! But, blinded by their passions, and thoughtful only of the present, they rushed, as thousands of their successors in crime have since done, heedlessly, into everlasting contempt. And when time shall be no longer, and the curse of mortals shall cease to be heard, then shall the curse of God come upon them never to be removed.

The other law which regulates the operations of this judicial feeling, to which allusion has been made, is equally threatening to the persecutor. It is this. The greater the innocence and moral elevation of the sufferer, the deeper our feeling of indignation towards the injurer. Now it will be seen, at once, that this circumstance greatly enhances the danger of persecution; for all experience proves to us, that we are extremely liable to mistake men's characters, and hence may be oppressing the most gifted and godlike spirit, when we imagine, that we are only crushing a weak and worthless enthusiast. And if we should be found laying rude and unholy hands upon such an one, our fate is sealed for eternal infamy! Caution, upon this point, might be urged upon very similar grounds to that upon which the apostle Paul urges the duty of hospitality to strangers,-we should be careful how we persecute others, lest we should be found persecuting angels unawares. But who cannot distinguish an angel from a man? Many a one, as the history of the world most clearly shows. The world's angels are very different beings from heaven's angels. The beings which most men figure to themselves as such, in human form, are all glare and tinsel.